Holy Hairy Harlequins! by Linda Ann Nickerson

Holy Hairy Harlequins
Bone-Chilling Bounty in Belleville

A Scary Short Story

Are you afraid of clowns? How about spiders?

These are not trick questions. Actually, these questions appeared atop a printed flyer the local schools distributed right before Halloween.

My children came home from elementary school on October 28th, simply buzzing about an impromptu all-school assembly focusing on stranger danger and first aid for spider
bites.

What web of mystery engulfed our quiet suburb?

The Skin-Crawling Tale

The last week of October, shoppers snatched the last masquerades from local Halloween costume shops. At the same time, the crime squads of Belleville gathered behind closed doors to plan their attack. Based on witness reports, something creepy was afoot.

Don Teller, the grizzled desk sergeant, had fielded the first call.

"We didn't hire a clown for our Halloween picnic this year, but one showed up," Mrs. May Bellows recounted. "At first, we thought it was a joke. She blew up a few balloons and created spiders from them. Then the real spiders appeared from under her frock. The spindly striped spiders crawled all over the children. We're afraid they might be poisonous."

According to Mrs. Bellows, the puzzling performer then cackled loudly and disappeared over the backyard fence.

"I'm not sure what charges might be filed, Ma'am," Sergeant Teller replied," but we will certainly look into it."

Several parents raced to the Belleville Memorial Hospital emergency room with their children, complaining of spider bites.

Within the hour, the Belleville police station switchboard shut down, overloaded with incoming calls. The crime-stoppers email address became clogged with messages reporting a crazed clown and a slew of spider bites at Halloween parties all over town.

The Belleville Post tagged the mysterious perpetrator Spiderclown, printing an artist's rendering on the front page the day before Halloween. The banner headline read...Go here for the rest!